Stay busy building life even as you expect Jesus to return at any moment.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 (NIV)
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 37: The Last Judgment (Part 1)
Finally we believe,
according to God’s Word,
that when the time appointed by the Lord is come
(which is unknown to all creatures)
and the number of the elect is complete,
our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven,
bodily and visibly,
as he ascended,
with great glory and majesty,
to declare himself the judge
of the living and the dead.
He will burn this old world,
in fire and flame,
in order to cleanse it.
Then all human creatures will appear in person
before that great judge—
men, women, and children,
who have lived from the beginning until the end
of the world.
They will be summoned there
by the voice of the archangel
and by the sound of the divine trumpet.
For all those who died before that time
will be raised from the earth,
their spirits being joined and united
with their own bodies
in which they lived.
And as for those who are still alive,
they will not die like the others
but will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye”
from “corruptible to incorruptible.”
Summary
As we begin our three week focus on our Confession's final article, we'll likely find ourselves in Paul's letters to the Thessalonians often, especially in the passages that immediately precede today's. Each church that Paul wrote to, be it the Corinthians, Galatians or Colossians, had their own particular set of problems and concerns. The Thessalonians had concluded that Christ's return was imminent - as in the next few days, or possibly a few months at the latest.
Their expectation that Jesus would come back quite soon was so high that Paul had to throttle them back a little bit in his second letter, since many had quit their jobs (2 Thess. 3:6-12). After all, work doesn't seem very important if you're convinced Jesus will be back next Tuesday morning.
But in today's passage, Paul's exhortation is aimed at the other extreme: those who have no expectation for the second coming at all. Paul emphasizes the shocking nature that Jesus' return will have - the same stunning surprise you'd have if you woke up in the middle of the night because a thief was rummaging through your stuff.
But it's the people who feel the most secure in life that will be the most caught off guard. They'll have so much confidence in themselves that they'll be busy evangelizing for the peace and safety we can have here and now rather than looking for Christ's return. Paul doesn't mince words about their fate, writing destruction will come on them suddenly... and they will not escape.
Dig Deeper
It's interesting that although all of these early churches had very unique and particular issues that they struggled with, Paul's prescription for each is remarkably similar - and not just from Paul, but also Peter and John. All of them, in nearly all of the epistles they wrote, to do the same thing Paul commands the Thessalonians in today's passage: to walk confidently in the light rather than stumbling through the darkness.
Today's diverse church landscape really isn't all that different from the variety of emphases present already in the first century. The Corinthians had strengths and weaknesses that were very different than the Thessalonians. Reformed churches have strengths and weaknesses very different from Lutherans or Pentecostals.
Our strength as Reformed churches certainly is in our grasp of the doctrines of grace and salvation. As you look back over this year of working through our Confession of Faith, you'll notice that we spent the most amount of time focused on concepts like election, atonement, justification and sanctification. What a wonderful strength to have!
But it's fair to say that we have a weakness when it comes to our emphasis - or lack thereof - on Christ's return. We certainly believe in it, but it just all seems so nebulous and mysterious, especially compared to the chiseled precision with which the Bible describes the mechanics of our salvation.
So we're going to spend the final three weeks of the year coming to understand what the Bible does say about the Second Coming so that we don't find ourselves shocked and surprised when that trumpet finally sounds.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who has long pointed His people to the coming Day of the LORD;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for strength to live in the tension of working hard to build homes, churches and communities here in this world while at the same time expecting Christ to return at any moment;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Revelation 8
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